Chapter 419: Searching

Chapter 419: Chapter 419: Searching

’Screw it, I’m just going to charge in.’ Lily Hart wanted to leave the other shops behind and just drive off in the RV.

But that wasn’t allowed. The shops and the lottery shop were intrinsically linked and couldn’t be separated.

She had no choice but to gather the shopkeepers in the hotel again, shrinking all the other shops down as small as they could go.

Even though they had witnessed such a scene before, the shopkeepers were still amazed by Lily Hart’s abilities.

Growing and shrinking things was truly magical.

Lily Hart had been to their old estate before, so this time she set the destination and sped toward it as fast as she could.

’I’ll just destroy their entire estate. Let’s see if they don’t hand over the people then.’

Lily Hart clenched her fists, her gaze falling on Frederick Shaw, who was sitting quietly in a corner. After several months of eating well,

the children had all shot up in height and their faces had filled out. Frederick Shaw’s expression was relatively calm, but his brow was slick with worried sweat.

Her heart ached for them. They were still just children, yet they had to go through such hardships.

The RV sped along with the hotel in tow. Inside a room on the hotel’s second floor, Simon Keane lifted a corner of the curtain and glanced outside.

The sight of the familiar base made him stumble back a step in fright. ’W-W-Why is Boss Hart at Central Command?!’

He hurriedly pulled the curtain shut, bolted the door, and curled up on his bed, not daring to move a muscle.

Soon, they reached the White Family’s estate. It seemed all these families liked to build their homes on mountains.

Perhaps it made them seem more sophisticated and mysterious, and the locations were easy to defend and hard to attack. But for the RV, which traversed mountains as if they were flat ground,

it was a piece of cake.

They effortlessly reached the main gate of The White Residence, a sprawling estate with a classical, antique charm.

It was enormous, like the kind of place a wealthy family from ancient times might have inhabited. Back in the age of civilization, they could have probably charged an entrance fee for tours.

But now, Lily Hart just wanted to raze it to the ground.

"Let’s go. We’ll head in and find them," Lily Hart commanded with a wave of her hand, simultaneously cranking the RV’s defensive mode to its highest setting.

The shield enveloped the hotel as well. After being upgraded to Level 6, the defensive mode had no blind spots whatsoever.

Whether an attack came from the sky or from underground, by cannon or by superpower, nothing could penetrate it.

With her mind at ease, Lily Hart led Frost Shaw and the other six people out. The group advanced with a menacing aura.

Upon entering the estate, they split into two teams. The first was composed of Lily Hart, Frost Shaw, Roman Rowe, and Cynthia Whittaker.

The second team was Seth, Stan Sterling, Owen Warren, and Leo Colby. Each team had exactly four people and was comparable in strength.

When they first met Stan Sterling, he was only at Second Rank, but he had been training hard these past few months and had successfully advanced to Fourth Rank!

Aside from Stan Sterling, who was a Fourth-rank Superpower User, the rest were at least Seventh Rank.

After searching the entire White Residence, they hadn’t found a single living soul. The place was utterly lifeless.

Lily Hart had the system scan the ground beneath them. It detected a basement, but that too was completely empty.

The eight of them returned to the RV empty-handed. Undiscouraged, they headed on toward the Shaw Family’s estate.

When they arrived at the Shaw Residence, Lily Hart didn’t even bother to get out, simply ordering the system to scan the area.

The result was the same: completely empty. They didn’t even see an animal, which was extremely odd.

After that, Lily Hart drove the RV to the O’Malley Family estate and then The Rivers Family estate, but the results were the same.

Empty.

The group, which had started out so eager to storm their gates, was now somewhat confused and disheartened.

"Where did everyone go?" Lily Hart murmured.

She had thought about using a system backdoor to locate Elder Shaw by scanning for any lottery shop products he might have on him.

A futile effort.

’They must have learned their lesson from last time. They probably even threw away their Light Brains. I bet they were stripped clean, with nothing left on them.’

’I never formally established a link with them before. Who could have known this would happen? Dammit.’

Lily Hart was furious. She repeatedly ordered the system to expand its scanning range.

But the range was limited. Lily Hart drove the RV from The Rivers Family’s estate back toward Central Command.

She kept the scanner running continuously, praying she would find some trace of them along the way.

By the time she returned to Central Command, the system still hadn’t found anything.

[You’re completely useless, System,] Lily Hart stated flatly.

[If you’re so great, you do it!] the system retorted. It was scanning with all its might and still getting chewed out by its host. How was that fair?

What other system gets yelled at by its host every day? Weren’t they supposed to be treasured and put on a pedestal?

Lily Hart was in no mood to bicker with the system. She was focused on figuring out where The Mysterious Clan could be holding Elder Shaw and the others.

’They say the most dangerous place is the safest place... Could they be right inside Central Command?’

Lily Hart’s piercing gaze fell upon the towering walls. [Scan inside Central Command.]

The system received its orders and obediently complied. It knew she was in a foul mood, so it decided not to provoke her further.

Central Command was the size of a small city, covering a vast area.

Scanning such a large area at once was a bit of a strain for the system.

It didn’t hesitate to demand, [I need points. Now. Or I’m not scanning.]

[Take what you need,] Lily Hart said magnanimously. She had a daily spending limit set for the system anyway, so it could only take so much.

Even after scanning the entirety of Central Command, the system didn’t find Elder Shaw or Logan Holland.

Even the various department heads loyal to Elder Shaw were nowhere to be found.

Lily Hart was genuinely baffled. ’Where in the world could they have taken them?’

Fortunately, they were only being held captive, with no signs of harm. This indicated that their captors wanted to negotiate, not burn all their bridges.

The others were also wracking their brains, but they came up with nothing. Subconsciously, their gazes drifted toward Frost Shaw.

Leo Colby asked, "You’re from The Mysterious Clan, too. Do you have any leads?"

Frost Shaw shook his head, a helpless look on his face. "I left a long time ago. I’ve mostly forgotten about all that."

Suddenly, someone none of them expected appeared in the living room.

Simon Keane.

For some reason, the moment Lily Hart saw him, she felt a glimmer of hope.

’Otherwise, Kaelus is huge. How long would it take to find them?’

’For him to show up at a time like this, he has to know something! Or he has a hidden identity!’

And so, eight pairs of intense eyes turned toward Old Man Keaton.

He involuntarily took a step back, cleared his throat, and asked, "Why the sudden trip to Central Command?"

"What are you doing here?" Lily Hart asked bluntly.

Old Man Keaton looked a little awkward. He seemed to wrestle with his thoughts for a good while, trying to reassure himself.

’I’m probably stuck here for the rest of my life anyway,’ he thought. ’My fate is tied to Lily Hart’s now. Helping her is helping myself.’

With that in mind, Old Man Keaton stated bluntly, "You’re looking for The Mysterious Clan."

It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact.

As soon as Lily Hart heard this, she knew she was onto something. She immediately pulled him into a seat and affirmed, "That’s right."

Frost Shaw sized him up, his brows furrowed. A sudden surge of deep-seated fear washed over him.

He took a few deep breaths and quickly composed himself. Still, he had a feeling about this old man...

Old Man Keaton said, "I might know where they are."

Without a shred of doubt, Lily Hart pulled Old Man Keaton straight to the driver’s seat. "Tell me. Where are they?"

Simon Keane opened his mouth and recited an address, but when Lily Hart searched for it on the map, nothing came up.